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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Long baseline weak-thermal-light interferometry with noiseless linear amplification

Song Yang, Xu‐Bo Zou, Guang‐Can Guo, Ningjuan Ruan, XuLing Lin, Zhiqiang Wu

Published May 1, 2015• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Long baseline weak-thermal-light interferometry is widely used for retrieving astronomical information from an array of telescopes. However, optic loss in the baseline severely limits the length of baseline and thus limits the resolution of interferometers. In this paper, we consider the elimination of optic loss with quantum noiseless linear amplification (NLA). With a success probability of 1.98×10−3, one could implement a 100 km long baseline interferometry via 1550 nm quantum communication. This shows the power quantum information technique and its application in astronomic interferometry. Finally, the comparison with recent entanglement-assisted method is also investigated.

DOI
10.1364/josab.32.001031

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Long baseline weak-thermal-light interferometry is widely used for retrieving astronomical information from an array of telescopes. However, optic loss in the baseline severely limits the length of baseline and thus limits the resolution of interferometers. In this paper, we consider the elimination of optic loss with quantum noiseless linear amplification (NLA). With a success probability of 1.98×10−3, one could implement a 100 km long baseline interferometry via 1550 nm quantum communication. This shows the power quantum information technique and its application in astronomic interferometry. Finally, the comparison with recent entanglement-assisted method is also investigated.
Long baseline optical interferometry, by combining the lights from widely-distributed telescopes, is shown to afford pronounced improvement in the imaging resolution in comparison with a single telescope. However, the noise and photon loss in the transmission between the telescopes would limit the length of baseline of interferometer to a few hundred meters. Here, we present a scheme for enhancement of long baseline optical interferometer by using quantum resources- noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) and displacement operation at the photon transmission channels. We exhibit this enhancement quantitatively by calculating higher fisher information compared with those of conventional optical interferometer.
There has been much recent interest in quantum technology for applications to high resolution imaging and interference measurement. Due to noise and photon loss in the transmission between the telescopes, the current optical interferometers have quite limited baselines to a few hundred meters at most, which limit the resolutions. Here we propose to use noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) to reduce optical loss in the transmission. We also show that NLA can be further improved with local squeezing operator. We envisage that our analysis on this squeezing operator assisted NLA method could help to develop higher resolution interferometers, which would have many applications in stellar observation.
Astronomical observations allow us to better our understanding of the universe. As we observe smaller and more distance features, we run into the diffraction limit of our observation system. This limit is a function of the wavelength observed and the size of the primary aperture used. We can synthesize a larger primary aperture by implementing interferometry. Long baseline optical interferometry would lead to significant improvements in astronomical imaging resolution. Building optical interferometers with free space baselines becomes significantly more difficult as the baseline increases. A promising alternative is to use optical fiber to connect telescopes. Fiber-based interferometers are much more susceptible to phase noise than their free-space counterparts due to inhomogeneities in the fiber medium. This leads to significant degradation of interferometric signals used for astronomical measurements. We implement phase stabilization techniques used in quantum communications to stabilize an optical interferometer with a 170km pseudo-baseline. We use a quantum optimal measurement technique with this interferometer to resolve the extent of a source four times smaller than the diffraction limit of the system within 1.5% error. These results bring the potential for a full-scale on-sky long baseline interferometer significantly closer. A 350km baseline optical interferometer at 1550nm would allow us to resolve sub microarcsecond features in the universe.
Optical Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) offers the potential for unprecedented angular resolution in both astronomical imaging and geodesy measurements. Classical approaches face limitations due to photon loss, background noise, and their need for dynamical delay lines over large distances. This review surveys recent developments in quantum-enabled optical VLBI that address these challenges using entanglement-assisted protocols, quantum memory storage, and nonlocal measurement techniques. While its application to astronomy is well known, we also examine how these techniques may be extended to geodesy–specifically, the monitoring of Earth’s rotation. Particular attention is given to quantum-enhanced telescope architectures, including repeater-based long-baseline interferometry and quantum error-corrected encoding schemes, which offer a pathway toward high-fidelity optical VLBI. To aid the discussion, we also compare specifications for key enabling technologies to current state-of-the-art experimental components. By integrating quantum technologies, future interferometric networks may achieve diffraction-limited imaging at optical and near-infrared wavelengths, surpassing the constraints of classical techniques and enabling new precision tests of astrophysical and fundamental physics phenomena.
Quantum networks and remote quantum entanglement serve as vital future quantum communication resources with broad applicability. A key direction lies in extending the baseline of optical interferometers to enhance angular resolution in interferometric imaging. Here, by measuring a simulated thermal light field, we report the demonstration of a memory-assisted nonlocal interferometer achieving a fiber-link baseline up to 20 km while simultaneously showing its capability to compensate for a geometric delay equivalent to 1.5 km. This result demonstrates potential for enhancing the angular resolution of interferometric imaging in the optical band with delocalized single-photon entanglement, and paves the way for future application of quantum memories in astronomical observation.